A call center is capable of receiving, processing, and transmitting calls, such as telephone calls, and other information. A particular type of call center may be referred to as an automatic call distributor (ACD). A call center typically has multiple agents for answering incoming calls and placing outgoing calls. A call center may also have agents participating in outgoing call campaigns, typically in conjunction with an outbound call management system. Each agent may be assigned to a particular group, such as an inbound group or an outbound group. Agents can also be assigned to a supervisor team, which represents multiple agents that report to the same supervisor.
In certain situations, it is necessary to restrict an agent's activity to answering calls or handling a particular type of call (e.g., answering only incoming calls). For example, during an outbound campaign, the system placing the outbound calls and controlling the rate at which the calls are placed relies on the availability of the agent to handle an answered call. If the system places outbound calls expecting the agent to be available, but the agent instead places their own call to another agent or a supervisor, or has an incoming call connected to them, the outbound system may not have an agent available to handle an answered outbound call. Additionally, if an agent is assigned to handle incoming calls, but instead places a call to another agent or listens to voice mail messages, the number of queued incoming calls may increase, thereby increasing the waiting time experienced by the callers.
In existing call centers, agents can be manually switched from one group to another (e.g., from an inbound group to an outbound group). This switching may be performed by a supervisor using a terminal or other device coupled to the call center. In other systems, a supervisor may instruct particular agents to switch from inbound call processing to outbound call processing, or vice versa. These manual systems for changing an agent's group assignment are tedious and do not guarantee compliance with the request. For example, an agent may switch groups in response to a supervisor instruction. However, after the supervisor has left the room, the agent may switch to a different group, thereby disrupting the expected operation of the call center.
Additionally, existing call centers do not provide an automated system for controlling the operation or activities of call center resources, such as preventing an agent from making a call to another agent or a supervisor during an outbound campaign. As discussed above, such activity can disrupt the outbound call pacing system.
It is therefore desirable to provide a mechanism for efficiently allocating call center resources and automatically controlling resource activities.